SINGER-songwriter Edwina Hayes is picking up her guitar to help improve performance facilities at Cullingworth Village Hall, by performing at St Ives Golf Club in Harden on January 25.

Edwina, who has worked with the likes of Boo Hewerdine, Sandi Thom and Jools Holland, performs contemporary country music blended with folk and Americana. She recently released the album Pour Me A Drink.

Edwina first picked up a guitar at school and continued to play when her family moved from Preston to Bridlington in 1994, playing cover songs at Bridlington Folk Club in the mid-1990s before performing her own songs at open mic nights in London from 1999.

Edwina has built a following through social media and playing many gigs, rather than signing the record industry contact.

She said: “Artists such as myself are learning that you don’t need a record deal any more. They tend to make a song into something completely different to what you are.

“The plays I had on the radio had nothing to do with a record company.”

One of Edwina’s songs pays tribute to one of her biggest influences. Richard Thompson, and she performs a sublime version of his Waltzing’s For Dreamers, since she too can’t get enough of writing sad songs concerned with unrequited love.

Type Edwina Hayes St Ives into Facebook for further information and to book tickets.